Invisible Years
by Gallifrey Immigrant
Summary: The Fifth Doctor toils under the hot Ottoman sun, and ponders what he's gone through recently. Spoilers for the Big Finish audio "Son Of The Dragon."


The Doctor worked on the farms of the Ottoman empire. The sweltering heat burned on his skin. Even a 4-Dimensional being, whose senses extended beyond the five or so measly senses of humans, could not help but buckle under this heat. He pushed one last hole into the ground with a shovel, and then stopped. His weathered cricket clothes, now being worn in a place where cricket had yet to exist, was dirt-stricken and laden with sweat. It was an irony—a Lord of Time forced to do the most banal of servant's work.

Of course, the alien was only doing this because the very life of his newest companion depended on it. Erimen was trapped in the palace of Dracula, also known as Vlad the Impaler.. The Doctor had watched Vlad's forces kill the Turks. Men slashed down other men in cold blood, laughing in glee with each life lost. The Doctor saw life leave the eyes of many men. People fighting over religious and geographical divergences, when the only difference between them was a small sequence of a small fragment of their DNA. The Doctor had seen so many massacres, and yet the human race always found a way to be even more inhuman.

It was enough to make the Doctor go in his TARDIS and leave forever. Leave Earth, leave the Milky Way, leave the universe. What these humans could never see, but the Doctor had already seen, was that this war would be forgotten in the short span of a thousand centuries. The Doctor could leave, and no one would notice.

Actually, that was inaccurate-it was the Doctor's philosophy that most nihilistic thoughts were., or else he would have stopped traveling a long time ago-Peri would notice. The Doctor closed his eyes, and focused his temporal sight upon Peri's consciousness. (He usually didn't do this unless he was in a extremely dangerous place. Like a Dalek camp. Or a Walmart at a Black Friday sale.) Peri was knitting a shirt while muttering about how she'd rather be taking a long walk in heels. The Doctor relaxed. He knew nothing was likely to go wrong, but he had to check.

The Doctor could feel the worry for Erimen inside Peri's mind. Erimen had sacrificed herself to save her loved ones. The Doctor had a small smile at that thought Every time the Doctor became horrified by the wars and atrocities humans could commit, one of those rather primitive apes did something beautiful and courageous—reminding him why he fought so hard. The Doctor had spent so many invisible years saving their lives. And they were not always grateful. Tegan had, quite honestly, been an annoyance at times. Many times. But she could counted on to be brave. Some humans (many humans) would have ran when the weird scarfed alien changed faces and personalities. But she stuck by him, along with Nyssa and Adric. That must have been difficult. He honestly hoped, in the future, that she had/will have a good life.

The Doctor wiped the sweat from his forehead, and observed the other men working. Some were looking at him oddly. The Doctor realized that he couldn't rest any longer, or he would begin to attract attention. And he couldn't have that. Erimen was counting on him.

The Doctor suddenly became aware that he was about to be tapped on the shoulder a split second before it happened. He turned around to see the surprised face of Peri.

"Ah, hello Peri," said the Doctor.

"How come you always know when I'm about to creep up on you?" said Peri.

"Luxury of a Time Lord," he said. Then he smiled and shrugged, continuing, "Or I'm just lucky."

Peri smiled at him and said "I just thought of you for no apparent reason, and decided to say hello."

The Doctor said "Oh, thank you for your concern. But neither of us should dawdle. The eyes of Dracula are watching, after all."

"Gosh, Doctor," said Peri, "you make it sound like a Hammer Horror film."

The Doctor grimaced, and said "Oh, Hammer Horror's a fantasy, but this is very real horror."

Both Peri and the Doctor were silent for a moment, watching the sun begin to set. Peri's eyes saw the orange-blue mixture begin to form, while the Doctor's eyes saw that and even more shades of color unobservable to the human eyes. It was a small bit of beauty in the horrible situation.

"Will any of what we do be remembered?" said Peri, turning to him. The Doctor wasn't sure whether she meant in this particular time period, or all the adventures they had and would have.

The Doctor thought about whether to give her the hopeful, or the true, response. He opted for the truth, as she deserved as much.

"Probably not," said the Doctor. He looked at her straight in the eyes, and continued "That's if we're lucky. I've been to worlds where my good deeds were twisted by history and the fickle mistress of memory into horrific crimes. So we're lucky if we get forgotten."

Peri bit her lip. She gave a nervous laugh and said "Now I'm starting to think we should get paid for this!"

The Doctor smiled and said "Our payment is the lives that we help. The years we've toiled may be invisible, but the people we save aren't. Isn't that payment enough?"

Peri looked up in thought, and nodded. Then she, with a mischievous grin, lowered her voice, and replied "I still kinda like the idea of money, though."

The Doctor tried to give her a disapproving glance, but just ended up laughing. Peri started laughing, too. Soon, the overseer had to bark at them to be quiet.

After Peri waved goodbye, the Doctor began working again. Invisible work that he would never be rewarded for.

But it was all worth it.


End file.
